Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1887-02-17

Maurice, the universal victor came |
suddenly and not roughly to the war
worn veteran, who at the summons sat
down quietly in his Antwerp citadel
and died. Very rarely has the world |
known such personal record as this.
HARDY OLD VENETIAN.
That of Enrico Dandolo in Venice is
in certain respects akin to it. He was
eighty-four when chosen Doge, and adj
ministered the duties of his Office with
signal force and efficiency. "Under the
weight of years." as Gibbon expresses
it, "he retained sound understand
ing and manly courage, the spirit of
hero and the wisdom of patriot,
anxious to build his fame on the glory
and advantage of his country" He
succeeded in his aim and in the work
he undertook, showing himself wise,
skillful and potent in all matters look
ing to the welfare of his State and peo-
pie, dying in 1905 at the age of ninety
seven, with record that made him
lone of the most illustrious characters
of the times" Speaking of this extraor-
dinary longevity united to force and
activity, Gibbon says in note, that
there does not exist another example
of hero near a hundred years of age. )"
This may be so, though Mondragon
comes very near furnishing "another
example" i"
BEYOND THE BIBLICAL LIMIT.
But while examples of mental and
physical vigor retained beyond ninety
are not, from the nature of things, to
be looked for, many examples occur of
such vigor well retained up to four
score years and beyond it. Familiar
names present themselves on every
side and in various walks in life. Hum
boldt, the illustrious savant, died in
his ninetieth year, retaining his intel
lectual activity to the last, his great
work, the Cosmos" being begun
after he was seventy-fom, and the last
volume of it published in 1858, year
before he died. Leopold Won Ranke,
whose ''History of the Popes" has made
him best known on this side the sea,
ended his active labors only when his
life ended at ninety years. Won Moltke,
the soul of the Prussian armies which
humbled the power of France, was
seventy years old when the great vic
tories in the name of his King were
achieved, and for years afterward his
force continued unabated King Will
lam himself yet wields the scepter with
no crippled hand, though his years have
reached eighty-nine. Our own history
abounds with examples of men adj
vanced far in years retaining freshness,
strength and elasticity STILL Benjamin
Franklin was seventy years old when he
signed his name to the Declaration, "
seventy-two when Minister with full
powers to France, and seventy-nine
when in 1885 he returned home laden
| with honors and benedictions. He died
at eighty-four, with faculties and af-
fections unimpaired." John Adams
was ninety years old, and Jefferson
eighty-three when they died on the
fourth of July, 1926, their mental vigor,
the latter particularly, hardly, if at all,
impaired. John Quincy Adams died al
eighty in the midst of active and ener-
getic services such as a man in the
full maturity of manhood might render
AS a member of the National House
of Representatives John Marshall's
faculties shown with undiminished lus
ter at four-score in the Chief-Justice''
seat in the Supreme Court, which he hat
occupied for thirty-four years. Roger
B. Taney sat in the same seat till hi
was eighty-seven, and the reins of jus
tice were firmly held till death relaxed
his grasp. DR.. Eliphalet Mott in 1854
at the fiftieth anniversary of his pi'esi
dency of Union College, when eighty
one years old, held an audince spell
bound in an address of more than al
hours length, marked by the force ant
much of the vivacity and eloquence tina
his earlier manhood had shown.
VARIOUS VETERANS.
4 Among examples of this kind taker
from men still on the stage there i
Bancroft, the Nestor of American his
torians, yielding freely at eighty-fou
the fruits of an intellectual activit,
which seem to grow richer with years
President Woolsey, at eighty-fve, ant
Mark Hopkins, at eighty-four, speal
and write with the vigor of earlier days
showing slight, if any, signs of intel
lectual decay. Coming down to a lowe
decade, there are beyond the sea Glad
stone swaying at seventy-seven Parlia
ments and popular assemblies witt
a force never more recognized tina
now, and John Bright, year 0
: two younger, producing eve
greater effects upon a popula
: gathering by his magnetic speech. Tn
poet Holmes, lately reaping golde
opinions and well-won honors anon
his transatlantic cousins, wears hi
: seventy-seven years aslightly as thoug
they were a gossamer robe, while Pres
ident McCosh seems to find the weigh
of seventy-six years no serious hir
drance to Metaphysical study or
l practical administration of his impol
: tant trusts. Nor does the late Presider
! Hickok, in his quiet home at Amhers
: find his eighty-six years an effectu'
l bar to the prosecution of studies whic
, have placed his name in the forefror
/; of the metaphysicians of the age.
1t were easy to multiply examples
e this sort. Those given must suffiC
: even did space warrant a longer lis
I, A brief moral may be added. A ma
4 at seventy should hardly be regarde